Rob Crilly is Pakistan correspondent of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. Before that he spent five years writing about Africa for The Times, The Irish Times, The Daily Mail, The Scotsman and The Christian Science Monitor from his base in Nairobi.

America's First Lady of Islamabad

It can't be easy for a successful career woman to give it all up for a life standing in the shadow of her husband, passing around the Ferrero Rocher. It is even more difficult when your husband happens to be the US ambassador to Pakistan, one of the toughest jobs on the planet. Not only is the country famed for its rabid band of hardline clerics with a hatred of all things American, the difficult security conditions mean the embassy does not allow husbands or wives to accompany diplomats to Islamabad.

Dr Marilyn Wyatt, who holds a PhD in comparative literature, thought she had found a solution, taking on a job in the communications department of USAID so that she could join her husband, Cameron Munter, in Islamabad.

Just one problem. Her dual role of wife – charged with meeting and greeting, supporting charities and other good causes, or "outreach" as it is known in diplomatic terms – and official helping to deliver aid has got her into trouble. Such is the controversy in the embassy, where some staff resent what they see as her meddling, that she merits an entire section – entitled Employment of the Ambassador’s Spouse – in an audit of the embassy published last night by the Office of Inspector General. It essentially accuses her of trying to hijack other departments to bolster her role:

… this dual-hatted role regarding public outreach activities has created confusion regarding the division between the two activities. It has raised questions as to whether she is overly tasking and taxing parts of the mission that are not under the direction of USAID. While the Department recognizes the value of the role often played by the spouse of the Ambassador, the Department provides guidance on the resources that can be devoted to supporting a spouse’s activities, as well as the way in which embassy resources are to be allocated to the spouse.

It recommends clarifying the role of ambassador's spouse and specifying the resources for her outreach work – rather a severe slap-down when shorn of the balanced, diplomatic language.

The word on the Islamabad diplomatic circuit is that she is guilty of using her job and status as ambassador's wife to set up the equivalent of a First Lady's office, much to the chagrin of career diplomats with more experience and expertise.

A spokesman for the embassy wouldn't be drawn into discussing Dr Wyatt's activities other than to say the report spoke for itself and that any ambassador's wife had a difficult job. "It's a fine line she has to walk," he said.